US Representative for Iowa’s Third Congressional District Zach Nunn recently introduced a bill with other states to make improvements to the US Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Program. 

Nunn says that the “The ReConnecting Rural America Act,” is a bipartisan bill that would increase funds to USDA’s ReConnect Program that facilitates broadband to areas in rural America and it would also make the program a permanent fixture. 

Nunn says that Iowa ranks 45th in broadband access in the nation with the second lowest speeds on average and one third of the state is considered a broadband desert. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that high quality and affordable broadband is critical to farms around the state of Iowa and the country. 

“We are a large and successful ag state, number one in pork, number one in corn, top and soybean. We have a lot of small family farms that depend on high speed Internet access for the success of their business, for the success of their equipment, and for the success of their planting and finishing seasons. That has been underestimated by the USDA, and so we want the Department of Agriculture to stand up.” 

Nunn mentions that this bill also calls for requirements for faster internet by defining unserved as 75-percent of households unserved at 100/20 megabytes per second speed. He says that it is sponsored by the U.S. Representatives from Minnesota and Illinois.